Himachal BJP hails Centre's decision on import of apples
- Country:
- India
The Himachal Pradesh BJP on Tuesday hailed the central government's decision to ban the import of apples if its imported price is less than Rs 50 per kilogram, saying it will benefit the apple growers in the state.
It thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the ''historic'' decision.
The state BJP had raised the issue with the Centre many a times and finally the government has accepted the suggestion, former chief minister and BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur said.
He said the apple production in Himachal Pradesh was 3.58 crore boxes of 20 kg weight in 2019-20, 2.40 crore boxes in 2020-21, 3.22 crore in 2020-21 and 3.52 crore boxes in 2022-23.
The decision of the government would save the growers from suffering losses and the Rs 4,500 crore apple economy would sustain, Thakur said in a statement.
Apple from Iran and Turkey, reaching India via Afghanistan by under-invoicing, was breaking the backbone of local growers but now it would be checked, he added.
Senior BJP leader and apple grower from Jubbal and Kotkhai Chetan Bragata also hailed the decision, saying the import duty was raised from 30 per cent to 50 per cent by the Vajpayee government but later the UPA government signed an agreement with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that maximum import duty would not be more than 50 per cent.
The Modi government came to the aid of the apple growers by stopping import of apples from China and later increasing the import duty on apples from the US to 70 per cent and the decision taken on Monday is historic, he added.
The government on Monday banned the import of apples if its imported price is less than Rs 50 per kg.
The directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) said in a notification that the imports are free if the price is above Rs 50 per kg.
''Import of apples...is prohibited wherever the CIF (cost, insurance, freight) import price is less than equal to Rs 50 per Kg,'' the DGFT said.
The minimum import price condition shall not be applicable for imports from Bhutan, it added.
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